Cephiene
by Shurikhan
Summary: Summary: In a world where trainers were given the Pokémon that is their perfect match in personality and spirit by their first birthday, Shannon was one of the 'few' who did not. Or, as she learns, one of many.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Cephiene, the Soul Pokémon:

It is said that Cephiene selects and delivers a trainer's their fated Pokémon before their 1st birthday. Cephiene is said to resemble Gardevoir, the Embrace Pokémon.

* * *

"Grand-" I stopped as I heard raised voices from the other side of the door. Mother and Grandmother seems to be fighting again. I leant on the door as I waited for the argument to die down. Knowing Mother though, it'll probably take some time.

"-good for nothing daughter how DARE you talk this way to me!"

"How dare I? All I asked was for some time o-"

"For another one of your pointless singing shows?"

"Just because you can't appreciate the won-"

"Tsk. Useless daughter, as expected of someone born with a flying bond."

"YOU-" There was a crashing sound as Mother probably threw a vase in frustration. Not that I blame her. If Athena was in that room she would be really sad again, after all, grandmother always spoke ill of her because of her typing.

"How you managed to give birth to a daughter as brilliant as Shannon I'll never know, considering her what a delinquent her sister turned out to be."

"DELINQUENT? Kathy is on a musical scholarship, can't you see how brilliant that is?

"As it is, grades are what matters most, Katherine is simply not good enough." I clutched my report card to my chest. They were straight A's of course, unlike my sister. Katherine was gifted in the way of people, her songs move people in a way I can't understand, and I admire her greatly for that. Katherine was free and fresh, but grandma could never see that, not when Katherine's bonded with a fairy type. On my shoulder, Suri gave a soft coo and started snuggling into my cheek. I gave her a little grin in return.

"But she's talented!"

"Talented or not, both you and her are a disgrace to the Rosehill Clan. To think I'd have not one, but two non-grass bonds in this family, I am ashamed. Both of you should be learning from Shann-"

"YOU! ...Even Shannon may not be a grass bond, and you know that." What..?

"Even so-"

I slid open the sliding door and walked in bowing. "Good afternoon Mother, Grandmother. What you said about Suri not being a grass bond.. Is that true?" Cocking her head, Suri chirped too, peeking out from my hair. Suri was my precious friend that has been with me since a baby. Suri is clearly a grass bond and yet...

Grandmother looked up from her position at the low table. There was paperwork piled up in neat stack along the table, and she seemed to have been looking through them before Mother came. Grandma has always been extremely dedicated to the traditional, and had kept the house almost the exact same in the full 40 years she had been the head of house. Mother on the other hand... Was sitting cross-legged on a nearby cushion. No wonder Grandmother had no patience with her.

Grandmother sighed deeply and replied. "It seems that you have taught your daughter some of your bad habits, Alice." We stood in silence for awhile as Mother and Grandmother exchanged weary glances, before Grandmother sighed once more and turned back to the paperwork.

Mother gestured for me to sit, before sighing as well. "I was hoping to not have to tell you this until at least a few years later..." I met her gaze, nodded and walked up to the low table to sit in a seiza, tucking the ends of my kimono under my legs and placing the report card down beside me. I could almost feel the approval radiating from Grandmother.

"You were a healthy, quiet baby. Never caused much trouble, and just that probably earned you plenty of brownie points, considering me and your sister...ehehe. Well-" Mother cut herself off before continuing. "You know how most people get their chosen bond around two months before their birthday? Us of the Rosehill Clan usually get ours one month before our birthdays, so we weren't worried when yours was coming late. When your birthday came and there was no egg though, well... We waited until midnight, Cephiene never came for you." I stared at Mother in shock. Cephiene was Hoenn's most worshipped legendary, even more than Groudren and Kyogre. Legends say that Cephiene was a Pokémon created to achieve a long lasting peace between humans and Pokémon. As a baby is born, Cephiene is said to see the future of the child, and selects an unhatched Pokémon for each human child before their first birthday. This is now what we call our chosen-bonds; Pokémon and human pairs born made for each other. This was elementary information taught in every school in Hoenn.

"That would mean...?"

"Yes. Suri was an egg recently hatched in our reserve around that time. I'm sorry."

It was the first time me or Suri heard of such a thing. I clutched the scarf that hung around my waist tightly. Ever since I was small, I was told that it was a gift from Cephiene, a little something to tell me that I'd become something, someone special. I was sure that that was the only reason why Grandmother would've let me wear it in such an informal manner. Was that all a lie too?

"I.. May I be excused?" I rose from floor. Grandmother looked up from her work and looked pointedly at the report card beside me.

"I'm assuming that is for me."

"Yes Grandmother." She flicked through the grades and looked back up with an approving smile. "Good job." Mother's face on the other hand, she looked close to tears. Surprisingly, I felt more calm about this than she is. Without another word, I walked out and slid the door behind me.

* * *

"Dew dew, Budew...?" Back in my room, Suri looked up at me with watering eyes. I smiled back and cuddled her to my chest.

"It's okay, even if you aren't my chosen-bond, you are still the one who knows me the best, am I right?" She nodded and sniffled into my chest.

Sitting there, cuddling and petting Suri, I started thinking. Grandmother had planned the majority of my life out for me, preparing me for the day I took over the reserve. For the most part I had just gone along with it, but now...

 _I want to know_. Why did Cephiene not come to me? Everyone I've seen has been given their bonded by Cephiene, and she certainly wasn't some myth. Was I... Just not important enough for her to come? I turned to look around me, at my neatly organised files and the single poster of a silhouette, one of the only pictures of Cephiene taken by the famous Professor Oak. No, there must've been a reason.

In the midst of this repetitive, formal life, I took a step in a whole new direction.

* * *

"Mother."

"Yes Shannon?"

"I'm... Going on a field trip. To Kanto."

"Sure, is there a sheet I need to si... KANTO?" Mother yelped and dropped the carrot she was peeling. Luckily not into the bin. Suri giggled from atop of my head.

"I've decided to go on my Pokémon journey." People generally start their Pokémon journey on their 10th birthday. However, I had decided not to leave and continue my studies under Grandmother. That was 3 months ago.

"Was it because...?" Mother trailed off. We both knew she was referring to our conversation a week ago. She looked at Suri in concern. "Are you going to let Suri battle?" Many trainers, especially females, refuse to let their chosen bonds to battle, reluctant to let them get harmed.

"Suri wants to give it a go." Mother put down her peeler and took my hands in her own.

"Oh Shannon. My baby's all grown up, about to leave the nest." I smiled back at her. Mother is melodramatic at the best of times.

I explained my intentions to visit Professor Oak while in Kanto, and showed Mother all my packed supplies/food, berries and money, which she gave me some more of.

I felt a bit sad but equally excited to visit somewhere so far away from home. It's also a bit weird how easily I could up and leave, considering I've spent my whole life here outside of the reserve, school, and the occasional field trip. Though that may be because I failed to mention this 'field trip' to Grandmother. And knowing Mother.. Grandmother wouldn't be knowing for several more days.

* * *

Notes: Hiii this is my first fanfic, so please give feedback! Some of my knowledge is kind of iffy since I played the game and watched the anime like ages ago so go easy on me :D I probably have to re-watch the(dubbed =.=) anime and just follow the plot. Keeping this mostly cannon, except Misty stays as Gym Leader instead of following Ash through Johto. I think Shannon's 1 year younger than Ash..? (though i guess it doesn't really matter since Ash is forever 10 anyways.) Also, this isn't beta'd and I'm too lazy to read through it so... Lmao.


	2. Chapter 1

Lol I swear I'd just be writing whenever I'm procrastinating. Sorry to leave you hanging. Reality managed to make me lose my inspiration somewhere. (WHY DOES LINE BREAK KEEP SCREWING UP).

Chapter 1

* * *

I fiddled with the necklace under my scarf. It was strung by a twisted black cord, and on it hung a cut gem that shined rainbows under sunlight and was encased in a simple leaf charm. Mother had given it to me the day I left and said that the jewel was an expensive jewel and to never _ever_ take it off or lose it. I have often seen similar accessories on older trainers, perhaps it is a current trend?

I have often wondered, even if I wasn't actually going to leave, whether I would prefer Contests or Gym Battles. Both Mother and Katherine had preferred Contests(they are both performers, after all), but I think straight forwards battle is more of my style. Suri may not be a strong option yet, but we have plenty of tricks up our sleeves for that.

Meanwhile...

"Ahh.. Sharon, was that right?" Professor Oak smiled genially as he ushered me into the lab. "Your mother has been calling me every day for the past week, asking after you..." I could almost see a huge sweat drop appear his head.

"I apologise for any trouble Mother may have caused. I hope you can excuse her rudeness." If anything, the sweat drop somehow became bigger. We walked up the stairs, until we reached a large open area with latest model machines lined against the walls. The room was brightly lit, with giant glass windows pouring light into the room. He gestured me to sit and began rummaging around for something.

"Now if only I had an assistant.." He muttered under his breath. A few minutes later, he pulled out a green pokedex along with 6 empty pokeballs and handed them to me. I thanked him as I examined the pokedex with interest and I placed the spare pokeballs into the outer pocket of my shoulder bag. Suri gave a small chirp, reminding me of the purpose of this journey.

"Professor..." He looked back at me in question. "Can you.. tell me about Cephiene?"

"Ahh..." The professor pivoted on his foot and walked back to his stash. He pulled out a poster and laid in in front of me. It was the same silhouette poster as the one I had on my wall. Seeing my look of recognition, he took a seat and gestured.

"I often get visitors from Hoenn asking after her." That would make sense, given how worshiped Cephiene is in Hoenn. They are definitely many believers willing to travel across the continent for the slightest chance of meeting her.

"I was a wee lad back then, just a bit older than you when I went through the Kanto and Johto league, and decided to challenge Hoenn. It was a sunny friendly region, and I made many of my good friends there.." His expression turned slightly wistful.

"Oh sorry I was rambling. I passed by an orphanage during my journey, and stayed at the town to recover my supplies. That night I was training with Dragonite when I saw some fishy people creep around the town. Naturally, I followed them, and I heard them planning to set up camp around the orphanage to capture Cephiene as she comes to grant the orphanage's babies their soul bonds. Even back then, I was a huge fan of everything Pokemon, and therefore knew about many myths and legends about Pokemon. Cephiene was one of them, and so when I overheard what they were going to do... I challenged them to a battle and beat their behinds." He seemed oddly smug and got lost in his memories again.

"A few days later, I was woken up with the feeling of something dropping into my hands. By the time I fully woke up, and my eyes focused, her silhouette was all I saw." I stared slightly in doubt.

"How can you say that it was Cephiene with such certainty?"

"She gave me a keystone, would you believe it? Key stones are rare enough that no sane person would just willingly give it to me. Besides..." He gazed fondly at the poster. "I guess I just understood that she was Cephiene. Legendaries are often like that." I had a feeling that Cephiene wasn't the only legendary Pokemon he meant when he said that.

"Keystone..? What is that?" The professor turned around to dig into his stash again, before delicately pulling out a box.

"Keystones are a special, extremely rare item that allows a Pokemon to mega-evolve, along with a mega stone. The keystone is for the trainer, and the mega stones are for the Pokemon, and only together with those and a strong bond, may Pokemon Mega evolve. To be honest, I'm not too sure about the specifics, but you can ask Professor... Simon? Symore? Sycamore, I think, about this more. He studies the science behind mega evolution, and new Mega forms are being discovered everyda..."

I knew about Mega evolution. It was something that had briefly come up during some of my lectures, and so I had a vague idea of how it works. Wordlessly, I had pulled out the necklace behind my scarf, leaving the professor gaping at me.

"Where did you get one? Like I said before, these stones are extremely rare, and only found deep inside caves." I tilted my head in acknowledgement.

"Mother entrusted it to me and I was told merely that it was an expensive family heirloom." It did explain Mother's worry though, usually she understands that I am not clumsy enough to do anything as silly as misplace my items. "However, I have seen many trainer's with these Keystones around in Hoenn." The professor looked at me in disbelief before softly muttering to himself. It sounded something oddly like, 'It must be another weird Hoenn thing.'

Checking the time on the wall, Professor Oak refocused again and turned back to me.

"I must go and check on the Tauros' soon.. So Shannon, would you like to choose a Pokemon to take with you on your journey?" I stared back in confusion.

"But I have Suri here with me..?"

* * *

It turns out that Kanto had a lot fewer soul bonds than in Hoenn. In fact, barely any trainers from any region's first Pokemon were soul-bonds at all. It was just mainly Hoenn which got such a tradition. It was confronting. Despite understand a lot of the world's history and current affairs, it was still shocking that something so commonly accepted in Hoenn just didn't exist almost everywhere else around the world. Suri and I spent a while playing with the starters the professor offered me under his watchful eye but in the end, I decided to not accept his offer. Any and all Pokemon that come along with me on my journey, I want to put effort into myself. Getting handed free pre-trained Pokemon on a silver platter was not something I could easily accept, especially as one of the Rosehill Clan.

On my way out, I started hearing some voices and laughter. Must be more of Professor Oak's visitors. He is a rather famous person after all. Turning the corner, I immediately collided into someone and fell on my butt, Suri falling and landing next to me.

"My apologies. I was not watching where I was going." I said, tilting my head. The guy who I bumped into, a guy around my age with a purple shirt and a crazy mane of spiky hair, stood up and dusted invisible dust off his pants before giving me a condescending look.

"Watch it." He said, sneering and turned back to his many female companions, walking off and continuing their conversation as if nothing happened.

Picking myself up and putting Suri back on my shoulder, I looked back at the retreating figure.

"What an unmannered brute." Suri, who had nestled back into the confines of my scarf, seemed to agree.

* * *

I hate this. I closed my laptop and lost everything I wrote from before and I don't remember much of what I wrote, so a bunch of this is bullshit =.= I really wanted to get this out as fast as I could but, I refused to post anything under 1k words. I mean, that's just not nice. I get disappointed when writer's write just 2 or 3k so...

Btw if you have any plot tips plz help I feel like this is kinda boring


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

"Shannon."

"Yes Grandmother." It was several days after I met the Professor, and I was currently at the public phone booths at the Pokemon Centre. Even though I had replied with my usual calm demeanor, I was a bit terrified inside. Grandmother was the type of person who would get really scary when mad, despite rarely raising her voice. It was something about the way she spoke, that sent shivers down people's back.

"I had a talk recently... With your mother." Hmm.. I wonder why I'm sweating so much.. It's pretty normal temperature outside. When she didn't choose to elaborate, I hesitantly replied.

"I apologise for leaving without a word, Grandmother, but I was afraid that you would not have let me go if I had told. " It was quite strange. My entire life so far had been almost completely following Grandmother's wishes, and these new changes were... refreshing, but terrifying.

"Shannon.. " I swallowed nervously. "You silly child. Grandmother is proud of you no matter what, okay? However, no matter the reasoning, you are obligated to tell me these things before they happen. Have I made myself clear?" ...aw.

"Yes, Grandmother." Crystal.

After a few minutes, Grandmother hung up. She had let me off surprisingly lightly. I walked out of the general area of the Pokemon Centre, took a breath of fresh air, and felt myself relax. Suri jumped off my shoulders and ran to an extra grassy patch of ground and happily sunbathed. I walked over to join her, finding some nice shade under a nearby tree, laid my head on the bark and drifted.

* * *

I woke up to Suri nuzzling my cheek. "Hehe, it seems someone is energetic today, ne?" She hopped around happily as I stretched and stood up.

"Alright!" I said, clapping my hands together. "Let us train!" As a fresh trainer, with my bonded on only her first evolution, I would probably be seen as a completely green trainer. I am, in some ways, especially when it comes to travelling and camping. Even having gone on training camps, it is an abrupt change to go from sleeping on a futon inside a cosy enclosed area, to sleeping in a sleeping bag without cover, and it needs some time getting used to.

But as green we may be as adventurers, we are not so shabby in a battle. As one born of a prestigious family, it is expected for us to train our Pokemon to an extent even if we don't ever plan on battling. Any cocky trainer looking for easy experience will having a bad time. As it is, we have many tricks up our sleeves when it comes to battling. We do come from a grass specialised clan, after all.

Digging through my pocket, I pulled out a string of cut up berries hanging by a vine. The berries was tested beforehand to use the bare minimum of each berry to power Natural Gift. There are many different types of edible berries, and the quality/power of Natural Gift often depend on the quality of the berries. Of course, with a family that runs a flowery natural resort, we get access to all the best ones, and more. We stick to weak berries like Cheri berries and Pecha berries for training, and use slightly rare berries like Tamato and Nanab for Pokemon battles. The even rarer berries are only used for emergencies or gym battles.

Suri often forgoes wearing the berry chains outside of battles, and carries a spare berry with her instead. As many berries we get from our clan and have stocked up, we often end up using many of the different type berries to practice combos of different typings, which _drains_ the supplies. It also doesn't help that Suri has a bad habit chewing away at the berries on her necklace without realising it whenever she felt hungry.

When Suri hatched, my parents had hoped for her to inherit a different egg move from her father. They wanted the stabler, and much more resourceful move, Extrasensory for the Budew. It is usually quite a shocker when a poison type is able to use a psychic move. Even so, Natural Gift is fairly versatile, and lays at the base of many of our battle strategies.

"Light 2 CT! Follow up with CO and then AF!" I watched as Suri nibbled at the berries I indicated, before setting up her moves. Hopping and nibbling a Chesto berry, Suri spun and slowly released small mists of water in a ring, before freezing the air immediately with another Natural Gift, and then blasting fire at the cold mist, leaving behind billowing white vapors. It took Suri less than 5 seconds for her to finish her combo, which is fairly impressive, except the fact that there was only a pretty small area of effect.

Of course, in the event that an opposition knew the berries and berry types off by heart, we created simple codes to attack without alerting them. The current code was quite easy to remember, being just the first letter of the berry name followed by the first letter of the number the berries are listed in a chart at home. In the case of a long match, we could just as easily switch to a new code once the other trainer catches onto the patterns.

As fun as it was to see reactions of the different elements forced together, there was a limited amount of times Suri could power the berries fully before tiring, and her actual strength without the power up from slightly stronger berries was still very weak, since she is still a first stage Pokemon. A bonded usually evolves around when their partner first enters puberty.

That is unless the pair decides not to go through with the evolution, which I find hard to wrap my head around. Why would you not want your partner to have the power up and growth from an evolution, to experience the same stages of growth alongside you? I had once heard a trainee at our resort telling her friend that her bonded was given an everstone because they thought the evolution 'looked ugly.' Needless to say I don't agree with that at all.

Unlike the skill/condition based evolutions of non-bonded Pokemon, the ones with a bonded experience evolution at certain stages of their trainers life, regardless of their skill levels. For a 3 stage evolution Pokemon like Suri, she would evolve into Roselia around when puberty starts for me, and evolve once again when I've become a full adult. Technically a Roselia needs a shiny stone to evolve into a Roserade, but apparently the bond does the work for you so you don't require any rare stones/trades.

* * *

After some speed exercises and battling some wild Pidgeys and Rattatas, we went back inside to relax and get some snacks, since we trained through and past lunch time. Suri was fairly full from the berries though, and was content cushioned in my beanie. Halfway through my tea and salad, we heard the sounds of explosions and battle outside the Centre. Why would anyone choose to have a match right outside the entrance too, it would probably be an obstacle for anyone who needed to get their Pokemon healed.

Shaking my head, I drained the rest of my tea before heading out to see what the commotion was about. I arrived just in time to see a hot balloon blow up and fling 2 people and their Pokemon high into the distance. Two teens stood looking out at the scarred grounds, with their Pokemon still out and breathing a bit heavily from the battle.

"Excuse me, sirs." I said, grabbing their attention. "Are those two alright, being flung so high into the air? As acquaintances, shouldn't you be trying to find a way to catch them before they break a spine..?"

"Ahh.. uhh" The shorter of the boys said, turning around. He had messy black hair buried under a red Pokemon League hat, and sheepish looking brown eyes. He wore a black t-shirt with a short sleeved blue and white jacket over it, and light blue jeans. He had a pair of finger less gloves on his hands, which he shoved one into his hair as he thought to come up with an explanation. "Don't worry about them... they're not really important."

"They're a group of thieves that have been following us for the better part of the year. They are oddly persistent." The other teen pipped up, giving the shorter teen an exasperated look, and recalling his Pokemon, leaving on a Pikachu on the grounds. This guy had tanned skin, spiky brown hair and squinty eyes. He had on an orange T-shirt with a green vest over it tucked in by a black Pokeball holder belt and dark brown pants. "Nice to meet you, I'm Brock from Pewter City."

"I'm Ash from Pallet Town!" At this, the Pikachu ran to his trainer and leaped to his shoulder. "And this is my precious partner, Pikachu!"

"Pika pikaaa." Pikachu confirmed happily.

"I'm Shannon Rosehill, and this is my partner Suri." I said, bringing her to my arms as I spoke. "We are visiting from Hoenn. Are you also staying at this Pokemon Centre?" I asked, gesturing for them to follow me back to the lobby.

"Yeah sure, I'm beat." Ash replied, throwing his arms up in a yawn. "I can't wait to sleep in a bed again."

* * *

We chatted for awhile before we ordered dinner, and we got to see Ash's rather dismal table manners. I got Suri and Pikachu some Pokeblocks I stocked up on before I left home, and they nibbled on the treats with vigor. Ash and Brock told some stories about their adventures in both Kanto and the Orange Islands, and of their previous travel buddies Misty and Tracey. On the topic of tourist spots, the two offered to show me around the town the next day. I graciously accepted, and turned in for the night.

In the safety of my blankets, I cuddled up to Suri. She cuddled back and sighed happily.

"They were pretty nice people, yeah?"

"Budew." She chirped, agreeing.

"Ash said he and Pikachu are best buddies, ne? Do you think they are bonded?"

"Deeew.." Suri replied sleepily, breath already starting to even out.

"Ahh, Pikachu means he'd already evolved his bonded once, right?" I whispered, petting Suri's head. "I'm almost a bit jealous.."

Leaving thoughts of evolution in mind, I gradually dropped off to sleep.

* * *

Notes: AHhhhh... I'm a very bad person.. I could've updated ages ago but I randomly decided to work on a few one shots, one which I was supposed to have finished and posted like a month ago.. and it's still not done... =.=;

Hopefully the next update will be much faster. By the way, in this story, Misty's gone back to her gym, so she probably won't appear until like later. As in very much later, if at all. Idk..

Cheers.


End file.
